Healing the Doctor’s Heart

by Kirk, Cindy

  “I’m almost done,” he said, when she appeared in the kitchen doorway in her skating dress.

  Chloe ground the toe of one shoe into the floor tile. “I was wondering if maybe Dr. Kate could come with us tonight?”

  “Honey, I don’t think—”

  “Please, Daddy, please,” Chloe pleaded.

  “This is our last night together before we head to Billings.” Letting Chloe visit her friend Savannah for two weeks had been a difficult decision. But it was the right one. His daughter hadn’t been this happy since before her mother died. “I thought we’d spend it together, just the two of us.”

  The closer the time had come for her to leave, the more Joel realized just how much he was going to miss his little girl.

  “I thought you liked Dr. Kate. Why don’t you want to see her again?”

  The truth was Joel yearned for Kate with an intensity that concerned him. Although it had been almost a week, he hadn’t been able to get their conversation at Virginia’s out of his mind.

  Between consenting adults. Embracing pleasure where you can find it. Those two phrases she’d uttered were stuck on a revolving platter in his head. Could Kate have been hinting that she’d be open to a no-strings-attached affair?

  His mouth went dry.

  “Dr. Kate loves to skate.” Chloe tugged at his sleeve. “Her friend said so.”

  He glanced down to find his daughter staring up at him.

  “Will you, Daddy?” Chloe’s dark eyes never wavered from his face. “Will you ask her?”

  Ask Kate if she’d be interested in sleeping with him? He’d always believed making love belonged in the context of a committed relationship. But that was long ago when life still made sense. And he and Kate were two consenting adults…

  “Daddy,” Chloe said. “Please ask her.”

  “Uh, ask her what, princess?”

  “To go skating.” His little girl might be only nine but she had eye rolling down to an art form. “What else?”

  * * *

  If Mitzi hadn’t been called to the hospital, Kate probably would have turned down Joel’s last-minute offer. She veered off the highway toward the ice rink and chuckled. Who was she kidding? The second she’d heard that Chloe had specifically asked for her to go skating with them, wild horses couldn’t have kept her away.

  Seeing Joel again, now that was another story. The kiss in the swing had changed the dynamics of their acquaintance. Even though lunch had ended quite amiably, when Joel had walked her out to the parking lot and reached around her to open the car door, she’d been this close to kissing him.

  The look in his eyes had told her she wasn’t the only one tempted. Unfortunately, er, fortunately, they’d both acted as mature individuals. He’d shaken her hand and said he appreciated the advice on Chloe. She’d politely thanked him for the lunch, and that was that…until she saw his name on her phone’s readout tonight.

  Joel had offered to pick her up, but Kate told him she’d meet them. She pulled her car into the near-empty parking lot and swept the lot with her gaze. Joel’s truck was nowhere to be seen.

  Because the night was warm, Kate had worn her skating outfit to the rink so she wouldn’t have to change. Once inside the large metal structure, she hauled the bag containing her skates to a bench, sat down and slipped off her flats.

  She’d just finished lacing up her skates when Joel and Chloe arrived. A big smile split Chloe’s face and Joel lifted one hand in greeting. Kate’s heart fluttered like tiny hummingbird wings.

  While Joel was handsome as ever in jeans and a salmon-colored shirt, Chloe looked absolutely darling in her royal-blue skating dress. Her black eye had faded to a dull yellow and the cut on her forehead was barely noticeable. “You look especially lovely tonight, Chloe.”

  “So do you,” the child said, then blushed and ducked her head.

  Kate couldn’t remember a nicer compliment. By the look of heat in his eyes, Joel found her black georgette wrap skirt and form-fitting silvery top very much to his liking.

  While the two put on their skates, Chloe told Kate about her upcoming trip to Montana.

  “You’re going to have so much fun,” Kate told the child, smiling at Joel. She couldn’t believe he’d taken her advice.

  “I’m so happy you came tonight,” Chloe said with an excited little wiggle. “You can help me with my camel spin.”

  “Chloe.” Joel’s voice was stern. “If you’d like Dr. Kate to help you with your camel spins, you ask, not tell her.”

  “I’m sorry.” The tips of Chloe’s ears turned bright red and she shifted her gaze to her feet.

  “I love doing spins,” Kate said. “I’d be happy to help you.”

  Chloe lifted her head. “You would?”

  Kate nodded. “And if your dad is interested, I can teach him how to moonwalk on skates. My old neighbor taught me. It’s a really cool thing.”

  Chloe pulled her brows together and cocked her head. “What’s a moonwalk?”

  Joel met her gaze and smiled. Kate wondered if he was aware that when he smiled, even his eyes lit up. This guy was the real deal. What you saw was what you got. No phony posturing. No “I’m so important” swagger.

  “It’s this move where it looks like you’re moving forward, but you’re going back,” Kate said when she found her voice. “Shall I show you both how to do it?”

  “Thank you, Kate. That’s nice of you,” Joel said, though the look of apprehension in his eyes told her he wasn’t completely sold on the idea.

  “Sounds like fun,” Chloe said with enthusiasm, apparently not sharing Joel’s reservations.

  Kate led the father and daughter to a corner of the ice when Sarabeth Brown skated up. Her dress was the same style as Chloe’s, except in hot-pink. “I didn’t know you skated.”

  It was hard to tell who the child was speaking to, but when Chloe remained mute, Kate smiled at the girl. “Sarabeth, how nice to see you again. Is your mom here?”

  “Mom is having a purse party,” Sarabeth informed her. “My sister is here, but she’s too busy texting her friends to skate with me.”

  “Dr. Kate is going to show me and my dad how to do a moonwalk. It’s this old-time dance thing,” Chloe said, apparently finding her voice. “Do you want her to show you, too?”

  Kate heard the hesitation in Chloe’s voice but was proud of the child for having the courage to make the offer.

  “Sure,” Sarabeth said immediately. “That’d be cool.”

  The smile on Chloe’s face could have lit up the entire building.

  With a lighter heart, Kate skated farther out on the ice, then spun around to face the threesome. “Place one skate’s toe pick slightly behind the heel of the other skate, then lift up the heel.”

  Kate continued to illustrate while teaching them the technique.

  Chloe and Sarabeth caught on right away.

  Joel tried. And tried. And tried.

  Chloe hadn’t been lying when she’d said her dad wasn’t good on the ice. After he’d fallen for the third—or was it the fourth time?—Sarabeth had clearly had enough.

  “Let’s go practice our spins,” she said to Chloe. “You can do spins, right?”

  Chloe snorted. “I’ve been doing them for-ev-er. Since I was like…four years old.”

  Somehow Kate managed to keep from smiling.

  Beside her, Joel hid his laughter behind a cough.

  “Awesome,” Sarabeth said, clearly impressed. “None of our other friends can do ’em.”

  Our friends? Joel nudged Kate, telling her he’d caught the nuance, too.

  Chloe’s lips lifted and her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Do you want to do a haircutter spin first?”

  Sarabeth’s eyes widened. “You can do a haircutter?”

  “They’re supereasy.” Chloe held out her hand. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

  The two girls set off hand in hand for the area in the middle of the ice reserved for practicing specific moves. Because it was
a slow night, they had the entire area to themselves.

  “Looks like Chloe’s making progress in the friend department.” The sound of giggles from the two girls brought a smile to Kate’s lips.

  “Yep.” Joel grinned. “Which means you’re stuck with me.”

  He looked inordinately pleased at the prospect.

  “How about we skate for a while?” Even though she was standing still, Kate suddenly felt out of breath. “Build your confidence up a bit.”

  “Sounds good.” Joel took her hand and slipped it through the crook in his arm as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  For a second his gaze settled on his daughter as she spun around and around, her head back, her right leg pulled to her head.

  Once she was done, Sarabeth applauded.

  Joel smiled proudly.

  “She’s good,” Kate said.

  “Yes, she is, but she’s not what I want to talk about right now.” Joel’s gaze met hers. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said last week at Virginia’s.”

  Kate lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug, even as her heart pounded like a bass drum in her chest. “I said a lot of things.”

  “About us being consenting adults and there being no shame in embracing pleasure where we can find it,” he reminded her.

  Shame? Kate couldn’t remember using that word.

  Joel leaned close, his breath warm against her ear. “I’m attracted to you, Kate. I have the feeling the attraction isn’t all one-sided. Am I right?”

  Her breath caught, then began again. Dear God, were they really going to have this conversation in a skating rink?

  “Well, um,” she stammered, “yes, I admit I do find you, uh, incredibly sexy.”

  Incredibly sexy? He’d simply asked if she was attracted to him. Yet, she’d skipped all the way to sexy? Kate stifled a groan.

  Joel didn’t seem to mind the jump. His smile broadened. “Sexy, huh?”

  “A little sexy.”

  “Little isn’t a word a man normally wants to hear.” A light danced in his eyes. “Besides, I believe your exact words were ‘incredibly sexy.’”

  He was having way too much fun at her expense.

  Heat crawled up Kate’s neck. “I’m prone to exaggeration.”

  “Well, I’m not,” Joel said as they completed another circle of the rink. “And may I say that I find you incredibly sexy, too.”

  Kate’s knees went weak. If he hadn’t been holding on to her, she’d have stumbled.

  He tightened his grip and it felt as if he’d never let her go. But, of course, Kate knew that wasn’t true. He’d made that very clear at the diner.

  “Any suggestions on how we, uh, deal with this attraction?” The second the words left Kate’s mouth, her entire body began to hum as she considered the possibilities.

  “That’s a tough one,” he said, his expression suddenly serious.

  “We could sleep together,” Kate said, as casually as if she was suggesting another turn around the rink. “See if that gets this out of our system. This heat between us may be simply the case of two young healthy people not having had sex in a long time.”

  Joel was silent for a long moment, then cocked his head in an inquiring tilt. “Didn’t you just recently break up with Ryan?”

  For a second Kate wasn’t sure what that had to do with this discussion. Then it hit her. Like almost everyone else in the world, Joel connected dating with sexual activity. While Ryan had made it clear he wanted to sleep with her, the desire had never been there for her.

  “Ryan and I weren’t intimate,” she said simply.

  “Apologies,” he said with a sheepish expression. “I shouldn’t have assumed that you and he were—”

  “No worries,” Kate said. “It was a logical assumption.”

  But Joel was no longer listening. His gaze had dropped and now lingered on the scooped neckline of her top. Her nipples stiffened, straining toward the remembered delight of his touch.

  “I don’t think once will be enough to get you out of my system,” he murmured, stepping close and twining a strand of her hair loosely around his fingers. “But we can’t be sleeping together with Chloe around.”

  It was strange, yet oddly reassuring, that they were discussing this with the same care they would give any other major decision. She had to appreciate his concern for the example he’d be setting for Chloe.

  It was too bad she found it so difficult to concentrate. Her eyes, which seemed to suddenly develop a mind of their own, zeroed in on the area directly below his belt buckle. “She’ll be out of town for two weeks.”

  He grinned. “You’re a genius.”

  “I am?”

  “You’re right. We’ve got two whole weeks. More than enough time for you to get me out of your system and for me to get you out of mine.”

  Kate thought back to her previous less-than-satisfying lovemaking sessions. “It won’t take anywhere near that long.”

  The look on Joel’s face would have been funny at any other time. “You sound so…confident.”

  “While I haven’t had many sexual relationships, none lasted long.” Kate could count on one hand the number of men she’d been with, most of them during that tumultuous year after the adoption. The counselor she’d finally seen at student health told her she was trying to fill the emptiness in her life with sex.

  “I’ve had only one,” Joel said.

  Kate pulled her brows together. “You’ve never been with anyone but…with anyone else?”

  For some reason Kate refused to bring his wife’s name into whatever was happening between them.

  “We were childhood sweethearts.”

  “Oh.” Kate wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Well, before you ask, I don’t have any diseases or anything. I’ve been fully checked out.”

  He studied her for several seconds, his steady gaze shooting tingles down her spine.

  She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I want to kiss you.”

  “I want to make love to you.” His voice was a husky caress and his eyes seemed to glitter, suddenly looking more green than brown. He tucked a stray curl behind her ear, then trailed a finger down her jawline. “I want to fulfill all of your fantasies and desires—”

  “Daddy, I did a perfect haircutter,” Chloe called out, skating up to a stop beside them. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes sparkled.

  “Congratulations,” Joel said in a hearty voice, his hand dropping to his side.

  “Good for you, Chloe.” Kate pulled her gaze from Joel to focus on the child. “That’s a hard spin to master.”

  Joel glanced around. “Where’s Sarabeth?”

  “She had to leave. Guess what?” A tiny smile tugged at the corners of Chloe’s mouth.

  Joel lifted a brow.

  “Sarabeth asked me to a sleepover when I get back.” Chloe did a little happy jig on her skates. “I said yes. This will be my very first sleepover.”

  Kate gave her a quick hug. This was definitely good news. While reuniting with her friend in Montana was wonderful, Chloe needed friends in Jackson Hole, too. “I’m happy you and Sarabeth had fun.”

  “How about you?” Chloe asked. “Did you and Daddy have fun?”

  “We did,” Joel said easily. “Kate agreed to keep me company while you’re out of town.”

  Kate didn’t remember formally agreeing, unless discussing kissing, fantasies and desires counted as coming to a consensus. Still, what did it matter? The bottom line was he wanted her. And she wanted him.

  “Daddy is going to miss me so much,” Chloe announced.

  “I will miss you, princess.” Joel shifted his gaze to Kate. “But I’m going to do my best to keep busy while you’re gone.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “You’re really going to have a two-week affair with him?” Mitzi’s eyes were as wide as Kate had ever seen them. And she was sitting up on the cushions of Kate’s sofa as straight as any soldier. “That’s a complete
turnaround for you.”

  Kate shrugged.

  “Why?” Mitzi pressed. “Why would you settle for second best?”

  Kate fixed an icy stare on her friend. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

  “You deserve so much more. You’re worth so much more than a couple weeks of being some man’s sex toy.”

  “It’s not like that. Did it ever occur to you that he’ll be my toy, not the other way around?”

  Mitzi ignored her. “When does the two weeks start?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  Joel would be back from dropping off Chloe later tonight. Of course, Kate didn’t expect to hear from him until tomorrow. That’s when the countdown clock would begin ticking.

  “Not to be a Debbie Downer—” Mitzi’s voice broke through her thoughts “—but this is a bad idea. A very bad idea.”

  Kate understood her friend’s concerns. She shared those worries, but it didn’t change her decision. “I’m not going to apologize to you or to anyone else. I’ve denied myself too much over the years. I dedicated myself to my career and there was no time to indulge myself. Yes, I am settling for less than I deserve, but ours is a unique situation.”

  “Because of Chloe.”

  “And because he’s still not fully over Amy.” Somehow Kate managed to keep her tone matter-of-fact. “The bottom line is, Joel is a growing addiction I can’t deny. So for two weeks I’m going to grab the brass ring and say to hell with logic.”

  “Because you’ve obviously made your decision, I’ll support you. I might not agree, but you know I’m here for you.” Mitzi tilted her head and met Kate’s gaze. “I have just one piece of advice.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t waste one second of your time together thinking too hard. For once live fully in the moment and make this an adventure you’ll look back on with fondness. You’ll have plenty of time for reflection once the fourteen days are up.”